Board decides fate of local doctor

State Medical Board puts restrictions on physician's practice

Dr. Ilangovan Govindarajan may continue to see patients in his private practice, as long as he agrees to an Interim Consent Agreement to include a restriction requiring a licensed female provider as a chaperone when seeing any female patients. The doctor was arrested last week on aggravated assault and sexual abuse charges.

That was one condition placed on Govindarajan, also known as Govan to co-workers and friends, during an emergency Summary Action Meeting of the Arizona Medical Board on Wednesday.

Govan also must submit to a Board-approved inpatient psychosexual evaluation within 30 days and comply with all requests of the evaluator.

Board staff will conduct chart reviews and members may modify the Interim Consent Agreement based on the evaluation's outcome, Roger Downey, media relations officer for the Arizona Medical Board stated in an e-mail following the hearing.

"The physician shall make a copy of the Interim Consent Agreement available to all facilities in which he practices," Downey stated. "If the physician does not accept the Consent Agreement, a summary restriction with the above stipulations shall go into effect."

Attorney Craig Martin, representing Govan, told the Board the terms were acceptable and Govan would sign the agreement if those terms are in the printed version.

The hearing began Tuesday, but was continued until Wednesday due to three of nine members participating not having received all documentation related to the case.

Kingman Police detectives arrested Govan last Thursday on 10 felony counts of aggravated assault, nine felony counts of sexual abuse and one misdemeanor count of assault. The counts stem from alleged improper touching of female subordinates with whom he worked the past year at Kingman Regional Medical Center.

In addition to his private practice in internal medicine, Govan also sees patients at the Gardens Care Center and The Lingenfelter Center, both of which are under the corporate umbrella of Creative Care.

"Creative Care remains committed to the highest standard of professional care for our residents. It is our mission to provide an environment of respect and integrity for our residents and employees.

"To that end, we will continue to respect the privacy of our medical staff while encouraging an atmosphere of open communications at our facilities. Dr. John Lingenfelter has assumed the role of interim medical director, allowing Dr. Govan an opportunity to deal with personal issues unrelated to his position at Creative Care."